COLLIER, Gaydell M(aier) 1935-

PERSONAL: Born June 28, 1935, in Long Island, NY; daughter of Harry (an urban building manager) and Jean (a textile designer) Maier; married Roy Hugh Collier (a rancher), December 27, 1955; children: four. Education: Attended Middlebury College, 1953-55, and University of Wyoming, 1955-56.

ADDRESSES: Home and offıce—Backpocket Ranch, 364 Farrall Rd., Sundance, WY 82729-9520.

CAREER: Freelance writer and editor, 1962—. University of Wyoming, member of library staff, 1970-73, head of circulation department, 1973-74; rancher, 1977—; Backpocket Ranch Bookshop, owner and manager, 1977—; Crook County Library System, director, 1985-99. Presenter and speaker at workshops and writing programs throughout the United States; also presenter of live broadcasts and taped readings for National Public Radio; consultant to Encyclopaedia Britannica. Member of board of trustees, Albany County Public Library, 1967-72, and Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation, 1992—.

MEMBER: Western Writers of America, Women Writing the West, Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association, Wyoming Writers (president, 1987-88), Bearlodge Writers.

AWARDS, HONORS: Wyoming Library Association Award, outstanding dedication, 1974; Wyoming Writers Award, best nonfiction book, 1980, for Basic Training for Horses: English and Western; named Wyoming Librarian of the Year, 1990; Arizola Award for encouragement to writers, 1995, 2002; selection as "notable book of the year," Christian Science Monitor, 1998, for Leaning into the Wind: Women Write from the Heart of the West.

WRITINGS:

(With Eleanor Prince) Basic Horsemanship: English and Western, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974, revised edition, 1993.

(With Eleanor Prince) Basic Training for Horses: English and Western (Classic Book Club selection), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1979.

(With Eleanor Prince) Basic Horse Care, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1979.

(Editor, with Linda Hasselstrom and Nancy Curtis) Leaning into the Wind: Women Write from the Heart of the West, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1997.

(Editor, with Linda Hasselstrom and Nancy Curtis) Woven on the Wind: Women Write about Friendship in the Sagebrush West, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2001.

(Editor, with Linda Hasselstrom and Nancy Curtis) Whirlwind: Western Women in Community, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2004.

Contributor to anthologies, including Sportsource, edited by Bob Anderson, World Publications, 1975; Windsingers, 1984; Visions of Wyoming, Casper Star Tribune (Casper, WY), 1993; and Western Horse Tales, edited by Don Worcester, Republic of Texas Press (Blue Ridge Summit, PA), 1994. Contributor of articles and reviews to magazines and newspapers, including Roundup, Christian Science Monitor, Discovery, Horse of Course, National Wildlife, Poets and Writers, Wyoming, Science World, Smithsonian, and Westering. Member of advisory board, WLA Roundup, 1973.

The book Basic Horse Care has been translated into German.

SIDELIGHTS: Gaydell Collier once told CA: "I grew up surrounded by books—floor-to-ceiling bookcases in the dining room and books in every room of the house. Today, as a writer, editor, retired library director, and bookstore owner, I'm still surrounded by books.

"But my main source of inspiration comes from nature—from the wisdom of animals, from the infinite beauty and variety of the Western landscape. I believe that it is in the appreciation and understanding of beauty that our lives are ultimately expressed.

"One great source of pleasure for me has been to encourage others to write. Working with the many women who wrote for Leaning into the Wind: Women Write from the Heart of the West and later collections has proved to me that the bud of beauty in every one of us can flower beyond all expectation."